Roles & Methods
Industry Research, User Interviews and Surveys, Wireframing, UX/UI Design, Prototyping, and Usability Testing
Tools & Programs
Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Whimsical, Maze, Lucidchart
A Growing Problem with Disposal
The average American throws away more than 68 pounds of clothing per year, clogging up landfills at an alarming rate. That’s only clothing; consider everything else homeowners typically toss in the trash.
On the other hand: reusing and repurposing don’t create pollution. Items are made useful as they are, and we get to move on without causing any further issues for the planet. This is especially true for items, like clothing, that come at a great environmental expense.
The concept of Uplift is to encourage mitigating the stress we add to our waste systems. Throwing things in the trash is an easy means of cleaning our spaces but there are others less fortunate who can benefit from what can still be worn or used again.
Interviewing Donors
I set out to discover potential users’ past experiences donating unwanted clothing and household goods and interviewed a few users to get a glimpse at the donation cycle.
Doing so let me discover how they chose what items to clear their homes of, what local organizations they were able to track down, and what factors affect their action to donate or drop off their goods.
"What inspires you to donate old or unwanted goods?"
Users want to find places that were local and close by for the sake of personal convenience.
Motivators: environmental sustainability, waste reduction, and helping others in need.
Users are interested in the purpose of the organization and learning how its mission aids others.
Research participants were Millennial and Gen Z’ers, ages 24-40 who wanted the most convenient way to give away items. 82% of participants had experience taking initiative with delivering their secondhand goods to a nearby facility and highly considered environmental sustainability and helping others for reasons to donate over trashing their items. A majority of them held a sense of personal responsibility to the planet and were inspired to mitigate their environmental impact.
I learned that Millennials and Gen Z trust organizations with clear missions that align with their own values. Users are more likely to actively support organizations that are transparent about their work with accomplished results.
"What problems do you encounter with donating goods?"
There were a couple frustrations from participants' past experiences finding appropriate places to donate a variety of goods to. Based on their responses, brainstormed a few features addressing pain points. Examples of problems shared were:
Which would be the best location or organization to donate to?
What kinds of causes or groups do the organizations help?
Will the item I'm donating be accepted by the organzation?
Are there convenient drop off or pick up options for in-kind donations?
Pain Points of Other Solutions
I found that this non-profit search tool concept wasn’t widely explored and similar services were not direct solutions.
For example,
Charity Navigator guides visitors philanthropic decision-making with its database of nonprofits and assessments of the organizations listed on the site. Even with the abundance of useful information it provides, visitors need to use their own personal judgement to select a group to support.
Research participants mentioned another option of Buy-Nothing groups. Apps like
Freecycle and
BuyNothing lets users coordinate local trades for old furniture, mismatched kitchenware, food, and more. However, users of these apps note its limited functions, have weakly designed interfaces, and not a large enough user base (even in major cities) for them to really take off.
Building Empathy, Guided by Personas
Creating a persona allows me to use empathy to drive decisions throughout the design process and discover methods and solutions. I narrowed down general goals and problem points to create Naomi, a persona who embodies a majority of the shared traits and experiences from the research interviews and surveys.
As the the goal of most research participants was to discover ecofriendly and charitable ways of handing off old, usable belongings, Naomi would be my point of reference for developing Uplift’s concept and features.
Problem 1
How might we build a database where users can discover and learn about specific organizations and places to donate to?
Users want to track down and find information about local organizations or nonprofits they can support with their in-kind donations.
Problem 2
How can we help users find the right organizations that will take their donations?
Users would like to know what kinds of items (ex. clothes, canned food, furniture, etc.) various organizations or charities are in need of.
Determining Product Features
I created list of features were measured based on building and implementing efforts with the amount of value it would provide to Uplift users.
I prioritized features to locate sustainable and charitable ways to help others including:
Quick search based on the types of item the user wanted to donate.
Search filter option to narrow down results based on users' preferences.
Collection/personal list of places saved by the user.
Task & User Flows
To satisfy the user’s needs and goals of quickly and efficiently discovering places to support, I mapped out possible steps users would take from launching the app, browsing a list of search results, and saving a location for later.
Site Map
Because searches handle a range of information, it was necessary to organize and arrange the numerous screens into a comprehensive flow for proper navigation for the sake of the user. I categorized and plotted the app framework to get a clear idea of its architecture.
Thanks to research participants, I discovered that a directory of events would be a useful feature to incorporate. Events such as clothing drives and donation drop-offs were mentioned by users as quick and convenient methods they had contributed to. Thanks to this pleasant surprise, an Events section can support users with additional ways to support the local community and others.
Concept Sketches
People were interested in nonprofits' goals before committing to donating. I learned this information would have to be accessible and reduce the user’s own search efforts. Organizations will have the opportunity to share their mission and other announcements to further widen their reach with an audience.
A series of rapid sketches were drawn to establish the overall look and feel of Uplift in consideration of how users could interact with the app to find places or events they could donate and drop off items to.
Example sketches of various screen compositions that would be incorporated into the Uplift app.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Sketches were digitized into low-fidelity screens with Figma. As more screens were built in accordance to the searching task flow, the intent was to make searching for organizations with specific criteria easy.
As discovered in research, content such as organizations' mission statement, location and proximity, and methods of contact were important for potential users. The site map created before the design phase charted where each piece of info would be best placed among a variety of screens.
Reinforcing Positivity and Change Through Branding
The name “Uplift” was chosen to inspire the hope and positivity evoked through the exchange of charitable deeds and in-kind donations.
A blue color scheme was chosen for the user interface and style to channel ideas of charity, generosity, and compassion that the hue is associated with. In coordination with neutral tones, the light and clean style expresses an idea of goodness that the app is meant to achieve by fulfilling users as a source of support and assistance.
High-Fidelity Wireframes and Prototype
Coordinating colors, typeface, and other aesthetics were applied to create high-fidelity screens. Design elements and spacing were adjusted to hone the form and function of the app and prepare it for usability testing.
The app itself had the possibility of being text-heavy with the information and choices that users would sift through. The interface incorporated visual elements to guide user decisions through symbols and icons easy to recognize at a glance.
Feature 1 - Item-Based Search
"How can I find a place that will take an assortment of items I'm interested in donating?"
Users can select items to donate from categories including clothing, home goods, electronics, and more.
Uplift generates a list of the most suitable local nonprofits or organizations in need of as many of the specified items to minimize the number of trips that the user may take to drop off their goods.
Feature 2 - Collections
"How can I keep track of organizations or events that interest me?"
A bookmarking feature is available for users to keep in a collection or save later for reference.
To organize saved pages and events, custom lists or "Collections" can be set up by the user based on their preferences such as food donations, clothing drives, homeless outreach, and more.
Usability Test Methods
I conducted moderated and unmoderated usability tests to see whether users could successfully explore Uplift and determine how valuable the concept was. Participants were asked to:
“Overall, this concept is really interesting! This would help people find ways to do good with the side benefit of making sure that we don't wastefully trash things.”
Heatmap sample from unmoderated usability tests.
Summary of Test Findings
There was a 100% success rate for finding a location to donate womens’ clothing. The biggest takeaway was the search flow felt similar to the function commonly used on other apps and services. Users recognized this pattern and drew on familiarity to guide and anticipate the result of every action on the prototype.
But there were roadblocks users encountered. With the second task of saving a school supply donation event, users could quickly access the Events section if they scrolled down the homescreen. I erroneously expected users to spend the time on home screen to locate it but the original composition provided no visual hints of any additional content and the bottom portion was largely ignored by a vast majority of participants.
What Performed Well:
Visual interface of the app was clean and easy to navigate.
Design of search feature felt intuitive and easy to use.
Use of icons quickly conveyed some of the item categories and support causes.
Information of the places and organizations listed was easy to locate and read through.
Needed Improvement:
Increase the presence of the search bar on the home screen.
The events section had been cut off, causing accessibility and performance issues.
The task flow of saving a page or event. Some participants said that it felt natural and involved too many steps.
Changing the wording of options and choices for clarity.
Iterations and Revisions
The first round of usability test results presented opportunities to tackle the pain points and inefficiencies experienced by the test users. In order to ensure functionality and accessibility for all users, I made improvements to the key features of the Uplift prototype.
Revision 1 - Home Screen Redesign
A majority of the users surprisingly did not directly use the search bar. One user said the visual icons from the quick search caught their attention over the simple search bar component.
The search bar was imposed on top of the header image, using the dark and bright contrast to make the component stand out. After this change, there was more space to bring up the Events section and increase its presence in the frame of a phone.
Revision 2 - Saving Pages & Events
In the test version, users thought adding the event to a collection was a requirement rather than optional.
Recalling usability heuristics, I changed the step to instantly confirm the page or event was successfully saved to a general list of items. Users then have the option to further edit the bookmark by adding it to a custom collection or simply remove it if added by accident
While creating Uplift, I was able to incorporate my learning of design principles and user experience and apply it into product that combines thoughtful design concepts with usability to fulfill the goal of whoever uses it. Not only did Uplift help me grow as a potential product designer, but it also made me conscious of the decisions and questions that go into improving the quality of a user’s interaction with one’s service or product.
Sustainability is a major issue that drives my consumer decisions. There are many stories online of people's struggles affected by the pandemic and I became more aware of others' financial circumstances, the rising cost of goods and services, and the decreasing accessibility to local services that many depended on.
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